Adobe Illustrator CC makes it easy to add text to your different projects and gives you some really powerful formatting options as well. To get started with type, you'll add a single line of text with the Type tool and apply a few basic formatting options to it. To follow along, you can open your own Illustrator CC document or this file from the practice files for this tutorial. If you open this file, to make sure you can see all of the artwork in the document, choose View, Fit All in Window. To start with, select the Type tool in the Tools panel on the left. In a blank area in the artboard on the right, simply click to add some text. After you click, a small line of text should appear. This type of text is called point type and is perfect for creating a headline on a poster or a line of text for a logo for instance. The text you see is placeholder text, and something you can replace. With the text still selected, type 'designs'. To zoom into the text so it's easier to see, choose View, Zoom In, and do that a couple of times so it appears a little larger. Now so that you can move the text object and resize it and do different things to it, select the Selection tool in the Tools panel on the left. Come to a corner of the box around the text and drag. Notice that you're stretching both the text and the box. This can be really useful when you're trying to stretch your text in different ways, maybe to achieve a certain look for a logo or for a heading for a poster for instance. To undo the text sizing you just did, choose Edit, Undo Scale. Now, to continue typing text, double click the word 'designs' to switch to the Type tool. Insert the cursor after the word 'designs' and type 'made simple'. If you were to keep typing right now, the text would continue in a single line unless you press Return or Enter to create a new paragraph. To see both of the artboards again, choose View, Fit All in Window. Select the Selection tool and the text object should still be selected. To make the text a little bit smaller, in the Properties panel to the right of the document, you should see the Font Size option. Click the arrow to the left of the Font Size to make the size 11 pt. Now, you'll drag it where it needs to be. So, move your pointer over the text and drag it down into the lower right corner of the artboard on the left. Now since the text is black and the background is dark, you'll change the fill color of the text to make it more readable. In the Properties panel, click the Fill color. Make sure the Swatches option is selected so you can see some default colors that come with your document, and then select this light green color and you should be able to see the text now. You can press Escape to hide the colors and then click away from the text to deselect it. Now that you know how to add text and make some simple formatting edits, try adding text to one of your own Illustrator CC projects, maybe for a web design, an icon or a logo.

What you learned: Add a line of text

With the Type tool selected in the Tools panel, click to add new placeholder text to the document. This placeholder text is called point type. With the placeholder text selected by default, type to replace it.

Select the Selection tool in the Tools panel. You will see a box around the text. This is called a text object. Drag a corner of the text object to change the size of the text inside.

Drag the text to reposition it.

Add paragraphs of text

Add paragraphs of text to your designs.

In this video, you'll learn about adding paragraphs of text with the Type tool and applying a few basic formatting options. If you'd like to follow along, open your own Illustrator CC document or this practice file from the files for this tutorial. To add a paragraph of text to this document, select the Type tool in the Tools panel on the left, then move the pointer into a blank area on the artboard on the right. Click and drag to create an area for your text. Placeholder text should appear in the type object and also be selected. This type of text is called Area type and it's similar to how you create text in Adobe InDesign CC. It's also how you create paragraphs of text in Illustrator CC. With the placeholder text still selected, type in some text, I'll type in, 'Let us market your business. Quick, simple and elegant designs all made in house by our top designers.' If you have text you created in another program, you can copy and paste that text in Illustrator CC or you can choose File, Place to place Word documents, RTF files, Text files and a lot more. Now to move the text into position in the design, select the Selection tool in the Tools panel on the left, drag from within the text to below this heading. To resize the type area to fit better in the design, click and drag a corner of the type area. Notice that the text wraps within as you drag. If you drag the corner making the type area too small, a red plus will appear in the lower right corner telling you that the text no longer fits. This is called overset text. Drag that corner to make sure you see all of the text. Now to make the text a little bit smaller, in the Properties panel to the right of the document, you should see the Font Size option. Click the arrow to the left of the Font Size to make the size 11 pt. And then click away from the text to deselect it. Now you can add text to all kinds of projects you create, like descriptive text for a brochure, copy on a web site or even content for your own package design.

What you learned: Add a paragraph of text

With the Type tool selected, drag in the Document window to add new placeholder text to the document. This placeholder text is called area type. With the placeholder text selected by default, type to replace it. You can place (File > Place) text documents (RTF, Word, TXT, and so on) in a text object.

Drag a corner of the text object to scale the text object and wrap the text within. Text that doesn’t fit in the text object is called overset text and is indicated by a red plus in the lower-right corner of the frame.

Reposition the text object with the Selection tool.

Format text

Explore text formatting such as Adobe fonts and font size.

Adobe Illustrator CC offers a lot of ways you can fine-tune the appearance of text in your projects. In this particular project, you'll create some headline text and apply formatting options like Adobe fonts, size and color to make it look better. If you want to follow along, open your own Illustrator CC document or this file from the practice files to this tutorial. First, you'll add some text to the project. So, select the Type tool in the Tools panel on the left and in a blank area of the document over here, click and drag to create an area of text. Type 'Designs Made Simple' to replace the placeholder text. This text needs some formatting help, it needs to be larger, have a different font applied to give it a different appearance and a few more things. To apply formatting like font and size, you will select the text with the Type tool. Know that if all of the text in an area has the same formatting applied, you can simply select the type object with the Selection tool, click and drag across all of this text to select it. Most of the formatting for your text is found in the Properties panel to the right. There are a lot of text formatting options you can experiment with, including Font, Font Size, Letting and more. Now, to change the font for the text, click the Font Family menu here. You should see the selected text 'Designs Made Simple' is showing as sample text to easily preview a font on the text. You can choose from a list of fonts in your machine, but you can also browse Adobe fonts from the thousands available with your membership. Click Find More in the menu to show the Adobe fonts. Your available list of fonts might look different which is okay. Your font list depends on the type of Creative Cloud membership you have and which fonts you've already installed and keep in mind that Adobe is always adding more fonts for its members. To sort the fonts based on certain properties, click here. You can actually sort based on Serif, Sans Serif, different font weights and more. We can simply select the font, so press Escape to hide these options. Scroll in the font list and find Lato. Click the arrow to see the font styles, and then click the icon to the far right of the name to sync Lato Black to your machine. In the message that appears, click OK. The font is now syncing to your machine. You can filter to see the Adobe fonts you've synced in the Font Family menu here. After a bit, you should see the newly installed font, Lato Black. Click to apply it to the text. Now you'll change the font size to make it larger. So, from the Font Size menu over here in the Properties panel, choose 36 pt. You may find that some of the text is now hidden. If that's the case, select the Selection tool and drag a corner of the type object to make sure that all the text is showing. Then to move the text into its final position, bring the pointer over it and drag it here. To change the color fill, click the Fill color in the Properties panel. Make sure that the Swatches option is selected and then select this green swatch. You can press Escape to hide the colors and then click away from the text to deselect it. As you can see, Illustrator CC offers a lot of text formatting options you can explore, from formatting logo type to fine tuning the appearance of text in an app design, you can now format your own text to match your design needs.

What you learned: Format text

Select the Type tool and insert the cursor in text. Drag across the text to select it.

In the Properties panel to the right of the document, change text formatting such as font family and font size.

When selecting a font in the Font Family menu, click Find More to see a list of Adobe fonts. Find a font in the list and click Activate to sync that Adobe font with your computer. To see the synced fonts, click Show Activated Fonts.

Change the color of text by selecting the text, clicking the fill color in the Properties panel to the right of the document, and choosing a color.

Place text on or inside a path

Discover how to add text along a path.

In Adobe Illustrator CC, there are a number of methods and tools for being creative with text. In this video, you'll see how to add text to a path. You can add text along the edge of a path, the inside or outside of a shape. To follow along, you can open this file from the practice files for this tutorial. To start, you'll add some text around this yellow circle. To do that, select the Type tool in the Tools panel on the left and move the pointer over the top edge of this yellow circle. Now the pointer will show a circle next to it. If you see that, it means that if you click, any text you type will go inside of the circle and that's not what you want. Press Option on Mac or Alt on Windows and with the pointer over the edge of the circle, click. The yellow fill of the shape disappears, because this is now a text object. Type 'BOBBY'S CAMPFIRE' in capital letters. To select the text, click and drag across it so you can apply some text formatting to it. In the Properties panel to the right of the document, select the text size and type 20. Press Enter or Return to make the text larger. After changing the font size, click the Font Family menu and choose another font. I chose Arial Black. Now you'll rotate the text, so it looks a little more centered on the top of the circle. You need to use the Selection tool to do this. So, select the Selection tool, move the pointer just off a corner of the box around the circle and when you see rotate arrows, drag until the text looks centered on the logo. Then click in a blank area to deselect the text. There really are a lot of ways to be creative with text, including adding text on a path. Now that you know how to add text on a path, you can make a creative poster headline or add text on a path as a design element in any project you create.

What you learned: Place text along a path

With the Type tool selected, press Alt (Windows) or Option (macOS) and click the edge of a path to add text.

Drag across the text to select it. In the Properties panel to the right of the document, change text formatting options like fill color, font, and font size.

Select the Selection tool and move the pointer off a corner of the text object and drag to rotate.

Re-shape text

Re-shape text in creative ways using outlines and the Direct Selection tool.

In Adobe Illustrator CC, you can get really creative with your type, including editing individual letters to create unique stylized text. Next, you'll learn how to convert text to outlines so that you can reshape it with the Direct Selection tool. You can open this file from the practice files for this tutorial, if you want to follow along. With the practice file open, you'll most likely see the Missing Fonts dialog box since an Adobe font was used in the artwork. Access to the Adobe Font Library is included with your Adobe Creative Cloud membership. Now, to fix the missing fonts, click Activate Fonts to sync the Adobe font to your computer. After the font is synced, you can click Close. Now, if for some reason you can't sync the font, you can click Close, select the text and choose another font in the Properties panel. The final text is at the bottom of the artboard. You'll work with the text at the top of the artboard to make it look like the final text. With the Selection tool selected, drag across all of the text at the top of the artboard to select it. This is text which means you can change the font, font size and other text formatting options. Now, to edit the text is as if we were drawing shapes, you need to convert the text to vector paths. To do that, choose Type, Create Outlines. The text is now composed of shapes that you can edit. Click away from the content and then click to select the 'uno' group of text shapes. To edit the 'o' in those shapes like you see in the final artwork down here, you'll zoom into it. So, choose View, Zoom In. Next, you'll use the Direct Selection tool to select anchor points and the letter shapes and then modify the letters. First, make sure Smart Guides are turned on by choosing View, Smart Guides. There should be a checkmark next to Smart Guides. Smart Guides will help to easily align the letters with each other as you modify them. Now, select the Direct Selection tool in the Tools panel and drag across the entire top half of the 'o'. Move the pointer over one of the anchor points you see, and you can tell which are selected because they're solid blue and color, and drag up to align it to the top of the 'r'. A magenta smart guide will appear on the top edge when it's aligned. Now you'll make some edits to the 'numer' text here. To select the text, select the Selection tool and click the text to edit it. After outlining text, it becomes a group of shapes. To move the letters independently, not as a group, you'll ungroup them. So, click the Ungroup button toward the bottom of the Properties panel on the right. To deselect the letters, click in a blank area. Now you can edit the letters independently since they are no longer part of a group. Click to select the 'u' and drag it straight down. Magenta smart guides will appear when it's aligned with its original position and with the 'u' in 'uno'. Then drag the 'n' over to the right above the 'u'. Once again, the smart guides will tell you when it's aligned. Now you'll edit the letter 'm' by stretching the bottom of the letter down. Select the Direct Selection tool and drag across the bottom part of the 'm' to select the anchor points down there. Move the pointer over one of the selected anchor points and drag down, aligning it with the bottom of the 'u'. If you find yourself moving the entire letter 'm', you can choose Edit, Undo Move, reselect the anchor points and make sure you're dragging by an anchor point. To see the final artwork, choose Select, Deselect. There are a lot of ways to be creative with text in Illustrator CC, including reshaping letter forms. Now that you know how to create outlines from text and reshape it, you can create some really creative text for a logo or any other design element you can think of.

What you learned: Re-shape text

Select the Selection tool and click to select a text object.

Choose Type > Create Outlines to convert the text to editable paths.

Click the Ungroup button in the Properties panel to be able to move the letters independently.

With the Selection tool, drag each letter separately.

Select the Direct Selection tool and drag across part of a letter to select anchor points.

Drag one of the selected anchor points to move all selected anchor points and re-shape a letter.